When we use the term

method,
it implies some orderly
way of doing something. The term
strategy
implies thoughtful planning to do
something. Each of these aspects emanate from a broader and more encompassing model.

three major influences on teaching: (1) politics

at the federal level, (2) business groups, and (3) advocacy groups. Collectively
these three influences will directly affect many aspects of your classroom.

There are three contexts of teaching:

Social context
The process of education takes place, for
the most part, in structured and well-organized schools. This is true even
for parents who home-school their children. Schooling, to be effective, has
a group orientation about it. The entire process is very socialthat is, highly
dependent on personal interactions. One of the fi
rst things that a child learns
in school is that the individual must make accommoda-
tions to the group. Within this cultural and social milieu,
behaviors are changed, learning takes place, and individu-
als change. Schools provide a social resource that might be
missing for individuals learning on their own.
Embedded within the social context of the school is
the concept of
social capital.
Social capital
is the sum of
interpersonal relationships that provide support or en-
couragement. Sources of social capital include families,
communities, public institutions, and ethnic groups.

The term

pluralism
refers to the fact that our soci-
ety and our schools are composed of many different types of people, creating
a mixture of nationalities, races, classes, religions, occupational groupings,
philosophies, value systems, and economic beliefs. Given this broad social
spectrum, it is inevitable that you will observe contradictory points of view
as a teacher (see Livingston & Wirt 2004). You will observe
intrapersonal
con-
fl
icts, in which an individual tries to reconcile confl
icts within his or her own
value structure. You will also observe
interpersonal
confl
icts, in which the
values of different individuals or groups openly clash. These kinds of confl
icts
generate considerable energy. Sometimes the energy is positive and leads to
common problem solving and benefi
cial activities. In other cases, the energy
leads to disharmony. As a teacher, one of your major roles will be to foster
positive social interactions and relationships

Norms
(unwritten
rules of behavior for specifi
c groups) and normative pres-
sures are part of the schools culture and its vast resource of
social capital.
As a teacher, you help to create social capital for all
students, especially those whose social capital, for what-
ever reason, has a near-zero balance. These students may
include children growing up in poverty and new arrivals
to the United States. You provide information that helps
students become a part of social networks. By knowing
your students personally, you help them gain experiences
with things they dont know.

holistic instructional view

. As
a teacher, you simultaneously shift back and forth from the big picture that
you have for your students to the specifi
c parts that you want mastered. This
thinking begins on the fi
rst day of school.
By thinking about several instructional aspects at once, you are consider-
ing variables that can affect both your teaching and the students learning.
Your vision helps you to be organized and systematic
31
Section 2

Three Perspectives on Instructional Decision Making

From your study of educational psychology, you know that several learning
theories or perspectives can guide teaching and learning. Three perspectives
in particular tend to have a great impact on what is taught and how it is pre-
sented: the
developmental, behavioral
, and
cognitive
perspectives. The spe-
cifi
c teaching model, or set of instructional procedures, that you use probably
will be based on one of these three or on an
eclectic
modelone that borrows
from or mixes several approaches. Lets briefl
y explore how learning theories
apply to instructional strategies. You can refer to a standard educational psy-
chology text for more detailed information about each theory.

Developmental Perspective
Piagets Developmental Stages
A very popular teaching and learning model
is the
developmental
approach, most often associated with Jean Piaget (1896
1980). This model assumes that humans develop intellectually in various
overlapping stages. In Piagets model (1969), there are four stages or periods
of developmentthe
sensorimotor stage
from birth to 2 years; the
preop-
erational stage
from 2 to 8 years; the
concrete operational stage
from 8 to
11 years; and the
formal operations stage
from 11 to 15 years and up. The last
stage is what schools attempt to reach, what we loosely call the thinking and
analyzing stage. However, the bulk of students in middle and high school are
still at the concrete operational stage, and thus they require many illustra-
tions, models, pictures, and activities. The developmental stages in Piagets
model are not fixed for any one individual or group; instead, they tend to overlap.
planning
deciding
what and how you want your students to learn. Master teachers exhibit three
common traits: They are well organized in their planning, they communicate
their instructional objectives effectively to their students, and they have high
expectations for their students.
The more systematic your instructional planning, the greater the prob-
ability that you will succeed. Planning instruction or lessons means establish-
ing priorities, goals, and objectives for students.
Goals
are really statements of
intent, stated in broad and general terms. For example, one commonly stated
goal of education is to produce a literate citizenry. This is a noble goal, and it
shows intent. But to achieve a goal, a series of specifi
c action steps is needed,
which well call
objectives
. One such objective, to meet the goal of producing
a literate citizenry, would be that formal reading instruction will be delivered
in grades 1 through 6. Written
lesson plans
set out in advance illustrate your
priorities concerning time, learning materials, objectives, and types of in-
struction. They are tools for success, both for you and for your students.

Interpretation
involves the students ability to identify
and comprehend the major ideas in a communication and to understand
the relationship between them.

ranslation
involves changing ideas from one form of
communication into a parallel form while retaining their meaning. Reading
a graph or describing the main point of a pictorial cartoon are examples
of translation. Another example of translation is summarization. In
summarization, the student translates a long passage into a shorter form.
Providing a
defi
nition
requires students to describe a term or
concept in their own words. This involves more than just repeating verbatim a
textbook or dictionary definition.

Most schools have

curriculum guides
statements de-
tailing what should be taught in each grade and in each content area. These
guides are created by the state and sometimes by the district as standards or
essential student learnings, but they are almost always written by teams of
teachers after careful consideration of the aims and goals of local schools. Cur-
riculum guides should be the fi
rst place to look when you are considering what
to teach and how to plan instruction. They provide a frameworkin terms of
both time and subject matterfor organizing instruction.

Summary of teaching planning

Planning is based on a plethora of models and a variety of lesson plan formats.
Planning serves a wide array of purposes.
Planning is a continuous process.
Planning is seldom linear.
Planning must be fl exible.

TEHNIKE
Brainstorming
is a simple and effective skill-building technique to use when
a high level of creativity is desired. The entire class can participate in a brain-
storming activity, but the shorter the time available for discussion, the smaller
should be the number of participants .
The leader begins the brainstorming session by briefly stating the prob-lem under
consideration. The problem may be as simple as What topics
would the group like to consider this semester? or as complex as How can
the school lunchroom be arranged to maximize efficiency? Every school subject has
some elements that require students to do some freewheeling think-ing. This is when you
want to use a brainstorming group.
After the topic has been stated and before interaction starts, it is crucial
to select a method for recording the discussion. It can be taped, or one or two
students who write quickly can serve as recorders. The leader should stress
to the group that
all ideas need to be expressed. All group participants need
to realize that achieving the highest possible quantity
of suggestions is paramount.

The
tutorial discussion group
is most frequently used to help students who
have difficulties learning or processing information at a satisfactory rate. The
group is very small (usually four or fewer) and focuses on a narrow range of
materials. Teachers of subjects such as reading, mathematics, home econom-
ics, art, and business often use the tutorial group for remedial instruction.
In the social studies, language arts, math, and sciences, the tutorial group is
often used to help students grasp a concept, again with the purpose of remedying a
learning difficulty.Physical education and primary
grade teachers employ a tutorial mode frequently in the area of motor development.

The
Jigsaw
technique is a method in which each member of the small
group is given a specific piece of textual information. Each group member
must then contribute to the group so that the entire textual content can be
learned by all.

Role playing
is a process-oriented group technique in which students act out
or simulate a real-life situation. It may involve almost any number of partici-
pants, although seven to ten is ideal. To use this type of group, you should be
well acquainted with role-playing techniques. Students will also need some
coaching to use the technique effectively.
Thorough preparation will help students enjoy the process and expe-rience of role playing.
A key point to emphasize with your class is that they should not be overly concerned
about interactions that might, in other situations, be perceived as personal attacks.

Cooperative learning
is learning based on a small-group approach
to teaching that holds students accountable for both individual and group
achievement. The practice is a very hot topic. During the fi
rst decade of the
twenty-fi
rst century more than 3,000 citations related to cooperative learn-
ing were listed in the online ERIC service. Arthur K. Ellis (2005, pp. 173182)
discusses in detail the various models associated with this technique and pro-
vides a set of empirical findings to substantiate its use.

Traditional models of cooperative learning share fi

ve distinct features ( Jacobs,
Power, & Loh 2002; Johnson & Johnson 2004): positive interdependence, face-
to-face interaction, individual accountability, development of social skills,
and group evaluation.
Positive Interdependence
In traditional classrooms where competition is
emphasized, students experience
negative interdependence
a manage-
ment system that encourages competing with one another for educational re-
sources and academic recognition. Competition encourages better students
to hoard knowledge and to celebrate their successes at the expense of other
students. In cooperative learning classrooms, students work together to en-
sure the success of each student.
Positive interdependence
is a management
system that encourages students to work together and teaches students that
school life for each one of them is enhanced when everyone succeeds.

Student-centred methods are deemed best practice in situations where the

teaching objectives for the lesson include acquisition of independent study
skills, greater student autonomy, working collaboratively with others, the
construction of knowledge from firsthand experience, and the application
of basic academic skills for authentic purposes. Most student-centred
methods are concerned not only with knowledge construction but also
the development of effective learning strategies, often encompassed by the
expression learning how to learn.
Teaching methods that are described as student-centred are aligned
with the constructivist theory of learning although some of these methods
were in operation long before constructivism emerged as a coherent
theory.

students should be actively involved in the learning process and intrinsically

motivated

topics, issues, or subject matter should be interesting, relevant and intrinsically

motivating

whenever possible, learning experiences should take place in real-life situ
-
ations where the relevant knowledge and skills will really be needed and used
(situated learning)

Students in all grades and in every scientific discipline should have the
opportunity to ask questions, plan and conduct investigations, use appro
-
priate tools and techniques to gather data, think critically and logically
about relationships between evidence and explanations, and communicate
arguments. Students who learn to question, debate, or explore acquire a
deeper understanding of the world. By discovering principles, rather than
just memorizing them, students learn not just what we know, but how we
know it, and why it is important

Discovery learning is perhaps the best-known form of inquiry-based

learning. It requires students to investigate a topic, issue or problem by
active means, obtain pertinent information, interpret causes and effects
where relevant, and arrive at conclusions or solutions (Ormrod, 2000). The
method is particularly appropriate for achieving important objectives in
social studies, science, geography, history, health, environmental education
and mathematics. The general consensus regarding discovery learning is
that it is most effective when:

the process is carefully structured

students have prerequisite knowledge and skills

teachers provide any necessary support during the investigations.

Advantages of guided discovery

Students are actively involved in the process of learning and the topics are
usually intrinsically motivating.

The activities used in discovery contexts are often more meaningful than the
typical classroom exercises and textbook study.

Students acquire investigative and reflective skills that can be generalised

and applied in other contexts.

New skills and strategies are learned in context.

The approach builds on students prior knowledge and experience.

Independence in learning is encouraged.

It is claimed (but not proved conclusively) that students are more likely to
remember concepts and information if they discover them on their own.

Group working skills are enhanced.

Disadvantages of discovery methods

Discovery can be a very time-consuming method, often taking much longer

for information to be acquired than would occur with direct teaching.

Discovery methods often require a resource-rich learning environment.

Effective learning by discovery usually depends upon learners having adequate

literacy, numeracy, independent study skills and self-management.

Students may learn little of value from discovery activities if they lack an
adequate knowledge base for interpreting their discoveries accurately.

Although students become actively involved, they may still not understand or
recognise the underlying concept, rule or principle; in other words, activity
does not necessarily equate with deep learning
Problem-based learning (PBL) is sometimes referred to more accurately
as issues-based learning, because many of the topics used for study are
not really problems. The method has gained popularity in recent years as
highly suitable for use in higher education contexts; but PBL can also be
used in upper primary, middle, and secondary schools if the issues to be
explored are selected carefully, ensuring that they are age-appropriate and
relevant
In PBL, students are presented with a real-life issue that requires a
decision, or with a real-life problem that requires a solution